If you haven’t already read about why I intentionally make my life harder-check it out HERE.

Now that you understand why you should CHALLENGE yourself, I’m gonna try to convince you to challenge yourself CREATIVELY.

By that I mean, challenge yourself to actively create new things! Drawings, paintings, poems, sculptures, fancy sweaters, wooden shoes, gourmet dog treats, whatever! The point is that you are using your imagination to create something that no one has seen before, to create art.

It’s important for everyone to work on some type of art, whatever your occupation because:

Art = self expression

The more you create and explore new possibilities the better you get at expressing and understanding yourself. You bit by bit develop a larger toolbox for creating messages, getting your point across, exploring and learning about what you personally find important, and connecting with others.

2. Art = understanding and empathy

As you explore more of what is interesting and important to you-focusing on the patterns in a bird’s wing you’re painting, exploring how different glazes blend on your pottery, trying out new patterns for crochet-you express yourself and other learn to better understand other artists and people. Art is a large part of culture, it expresses your unique priorities, but can also communicate what a society deems important.

This entire blog is a testament to me making my life harder, and more complicated then it needs to be.

I could just enjoy creating art! Why force myself to draw things I’m bad at? Study the history? Practice a skill so much I’m sick of it and can teach it to others without thinking?

I could just keep it to myself! Why face potential critism and embaressment by sharing my ugly, beginner art with strangers and, even worse, people I actually know?

I could at least set less ridiculous goals and only post after I’ve improved! Why rush to improve? Why not go slow and wait a few weeks, or years, until I’m already a master?

The answer to all of that is that art, and life, is better when you have to struggle a little.

I mean this within reason of course. I personally know the pain of having too much stress and not knowing if you can handle it. Not wanting to go to work in the morning because you know you’ll just end up failing again. Crying in the car on the way to work, dreading another day of unmet (largely self-imposed) expectations.

Just me?

Anyway…

Too much stress and too high of expectations is clearly NOT desirable.

First, you start with one dot, or point, because it’s “1-point perspective “.
You should already know that though, since you have totally all ready done the first tutorial on perspective, right?

If not, go ahead and check it out here: http://inquisitiveart.com/2017/04/07/draw-1-point-perspective-anyone-can/

No worries, I’ll wait.

Great! Now that you’re back make one dot for your vanishing point and then draw the flat tops of your objects. I did a few varied shapes for rooftops in a city (one has a pool).

No horizon line this time because you are looking straight down.

Second, connect your shape to the vanishing line and cut it off.
This should feel familiar. Just like before, make sure that the lines of the “top” edges are parallel to the “bottom” edges. Third, add details (like windows!).

The sides of the windows will angle to the vanishing point. The tops and bottoms will be parallel to each other and the top edge of the building. They will also get closer together as they get closer to the vanishing point.

Fourth, repeat those steps to add more buildings…or furniture, or whatever you’re drawing.
Fifth, erase the extra lines, and add detail to the bottom.

Any details on the bottom or rooftop size will appear flat and can be drawn normally. Like the roads and cars I added. The circular rooftop pool is another example of this.

I also added another building to demonstrate how making a building look taller is as easy as increasing the space between the top and bottom.

The sun had almost finished rising above the distant hills as we arrived at the trailhead for the Tongariro Crossing. My three companions, one friend I had been traveling with for a while and two hitchhikers we’d picked up the day before, and I soon set off on a trail I had been hearing about since arriving in New Zealand. I had no idea what I was getting myself into.

I bounced along the first 2 kilometers of nearly flat walking while admiring (and photographing) the gorgeous views of the mountains in the distance. Including the steep, volcanic cone we would be climbing. My gross overconfidence was quickly revealed though once we reached the actual ascents- mostly sets of uneven steps that led to more, steeper steps.

I was soon lagging behind my three, ever so patient, companions and cursing myself for making them wait as I used my hands to push down on my legs and propel my body up one step at a time.

“Why was I doing this again?”

After a blissful break that I spent guzzling water, we set off up the side trail to summit Mount Ngauruhoe (better known as Mt. Doom) which seemed like a great idea for about three minutes. Then my renewed energy suddenly flatlined. I was once again struggling to force two tired and heavy legs up a set of steps while watching my companions slowly get farther and farther ahead.

Then we reached the side of the mountain and all pretense of a path disappeared.